How to tell if your husband is at risk for prostate cancer

Knowing your risk for disease can help you take steps to lower your chance of getting ill.

This post is on Healthwise

February 26, 2015 | Craig Cooper

Knowing your risk for disease can help you take steps to lower your chance of getting ill. With men, they often avoid worrying about their health until they already have a problem. Women are better at prevention, which is why it is important to know if your husband is at risk for prostate cancer so you can help him lower his risk factors.

Prostate cancer has many risk factors. Some, like genetic factors, are beyond your control; others you can influence. But no matter what your husband’s risk factors are, if he follows a prostate-friendly lifestyle, gets early screenings and gets early intervention if necessary, it can make a big difference in preventing and/or beating this disease. The following signs can tell you if your husband is at risk for prostate cancer.

Obesity

Is your husband overweight? Obesity is a big risk factor for prostate cancer, and one you can do something about. Help your husband exercise, follow the Prostate Diet, and lose weight.

Diet

If your husband is a lover of fried foods and meat, especially processed and cured meats like bacon or well-done meat, you may want to encourage him to cut back on these foods. Several studies indicate that consuming these foods can increase risk of cancer, including prostate cancer. Instead look at following a Mediterranean diet, which focuses on fish, nuts, seeds, heart-healthy oils and vegetables. Knowing what foods to avoid for prostate health as well as the best diet for prostate health can help you shop and prepare better meals for a lifetime of better habits and enjoying your husband’s good health.

African-American

If your husband is black, he is at a higher risk of getting prostate cancer than other American men. In fact African-American men have twice the risk of prostate cancer in their early 50s and are twice as likely to die from prostate cancer. What is interesting is that black men living in Africa do not have as high a risk factor, so something about the American diet, stress, or environment is contributing.

Heredity

Does your husband’s father, uncles or brothers have prostate cancer? Some types of prostate cancer are genetic, and the tumors may be more aggressive, so it is important to get a PSA test and prostate exam early and regularly.

Balding

Is your husband balding? Not trying to add insult to injury, but a study indicates that one of the weird risks for prostate cancer is that bald men have a 69 percent greater risk for prostate cancer than men without hair loss. Researchers speculate that this related to testosterone levels.

Height

Is your husband over 6 feet tall? In the U.S. and the UK, taller men have a higher risk for prostate cancer than shorter men.

Living in northern climates

If you live in the north, your husband’s risk of prostate cancer is higher than men who live south of 40 degrees latitude. Make sure your husband is getting plenty of vitamin D, to make up for the lack of sunlight exposure. Vitamin D is important for prostate health and male aging.

Prostatitis

If your husband has suffered with chronic prostatitis, he may be at risk for prostate cancer. A 2010 study found that men with a history of prostatitis have a 30 percent increased risk of prostate cancer. That is why employing a multimodal approach to manage this condition and reduce inflammation is important. While there is not a causal link between prostatitis and prostate cancer, the same factors in diet, exercise and stress can increase the risk for both prostatitis and prostate cancer, so it is important to take steps to achieve better prostate health.

Sedentary lifestyle

Is your husband a bit of a couch potato? It is time to get moving. Exercise is important for all aspects of prostate health, and studies on prostate cancer and exercise show that exercise, even walking at least 90 minutes per week, can help men live longer and lower risk for prevent prostate cancer. Men who exercise even more enjoy better benefits. Getting at least three hours per week of vigorous physical activity is associated with a 61 percent lower risk of death from prostate cancer when compared with men who exercise less than one hour per week at vigorous activity, and a 49 percent lower risk of dying from any cause.

To help your husband prevent prostate cancer, encourage him to get moving, manage his stress, eat better and perhaps drink green tea or take a supplement. If he is at a higher risk factor for prostate cancer due to his race or family history, encourage him to talk to his doctor and get screened earlier than other men. You may need to schedule that first appointment for him. He may not be excited to go to the doctor, but getting that first baseline reading is important, and he will appreciate the good care from his loving wife.

http://easyhealthoptions.com/tell-husband-risk-prostate-cancer/

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US warns drugs may have sexual side effects

Posted on 15 April 2012 - 05:27am
Last updated on 15 April 2012 - 02:07pm

WASHINGTON (April 14, 2012): Two Merck drugs for treating male baldness and enlarged prostate will now carry extended labels to add more possible sexual side effects, US regulators said.

The changes involve Propecia and Proscar, both of which contain the active ingredient finasteride, after patients reported additional adverse effects that were not apparent at the time of the drugs' approval, the US Food and Drug Administration said Friday.

The new Propecia label will include "libido disorders, ejaculation disorders, and orgasm disorders that continued after discontinuation of the drug," the FDA said. Propecia is a drug to treat male baldness.

Proscar, which treats symptoms of enlarged prostate, will now have a label that adds "decreased libido that continued after discontinuation of the drug."

In addition, both labels are being revised to "include a description of reports of male infertility and/or poor semen quality that normalized or improved after drug discontinuation," the FDA said.

FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Yao said the drugs were previously known to cause adverse sexual events in a small number of patients, and that information was included on labels at the time of approval.

The latest labeling change "expands the list of sexual adverse events reported to the FDA postmarketing," she told AFP, adding that "no new clinical studies were reviewed to evaluate these adverse events."

Proscar was approved for the US market in 1992 and Propecia in 1997. In 2011, both drugs' labels were "revised to include erectile dysfunction that continued after drug discontinuation," the FDA said.

Last year, labels for Proscar and Propecia were also changed to advise of the possibility of an increased risk of high-grade prostate cancer.

The agency noted that even though "clear causal links between finasteride (Propecia and Proscar) and sexual adverse events have NOT been established, the cases suggest a broader range of adverse effects than previously reported in patients taking these drugs."

Since these side effects may be important to some patients, doctors were urged to discuss them with patients when deciding on treatment options.

In the case of Propecia, clinical trials showed 3.8 percent of men had reported one or more adverse sexual experiences, compared to 2.1 percent who were taking a placebo.

"Propecia and Proscar are generally well tolerated and effective for their respective intended uses in accordance with their approved product labeling," Merck said in a statement.

The company added that "a causal relationship between the use of Propecia or Proscar and continued sexual dysfunction after discontinuation of treatment has not been established," and expressed support for ongoing monitoring of adverse event reports. -- AFP

http://www.thesundaily.my/news/349696